I’ve been to over half the American states, but it wasn’t until Detroit when I finally understood America. It’s industriousness. I was driving leisurely along the I-94 in a construction zone when I was passed by two trucks each carrying three columns of ladder frame chassis piled on top of Read more…
Flint. Yes, that Flint. But before it became globally famous for not having a clean drinking water supply, it was the mother of America’s early car industry until the Great Depression. The First National Bank of Flint financed the files of Chevrolet, Dort, and Monroe. Charles Nash (president of Buick Read more…
Sydney is the largest city on Cape Breton Island in the north of Nova Scotia. Its industry began from coal mining in the eighteenth century by the French, who also built the Louisbourg Fortress. The steel industry developed two centuries later and was the city’s bastion of economic activity until Read more…
The native Mi’kmaq people used the isthmus as a transit point between the Atlantic Ocean and Bras d’Or Lake (they obviously didn’t call it that thousands of years ago) as it was only a kilometre long. Their lightweight canoes could easily be carried on their shoulders and brought from the Read more…
When I planned my trip to Atlantic Canada, I didn’t think I was going to end up in Nova Scotia, I only planned as far as New Brunswick because Nova Scotia wasn’t fully open for discretionary travel yet. A couple of days before my departure date, Nova Scotia finally opened Read more…
Lunenburg is one of the oldest cities in Canada and was home to the schooner Bluenose, featured on some Canadian coinage. It is also one of only two UNESCO communities on the continent, the other one being Quebec City. It is the best conserved British-style colonial settlement on the continent Read more…
Shediac is only 30 minutes east of Moncton. It’s the self-claimed “lobster capital of the world.” It has the warmest waters north of the US on the east coast of North America, but I didn’t go during lobster season so I didn’t get to eat any fresh lobster there. It’s Read more…
Nova Scotia’s capital and the largest city in Atlantic Canada has been a military city since the capitulation of the French in Quebec. It suffered what was the world’s largest explosion during the First World War and was a vital transit point for ships supplying Europe during the 1940s. It Read more…
Fredericton is New Brunswick’s provincial capital. Its Victorian Legislative Building served as the seat of government since 1882. Its southeast corner is Secretary and King streets, quite an intersection of high and low roles. The Georgian building on the other side of the city is the old Government House that Read more…
Owen sound was named after Admiral Fitzwilliam Owen, who undertook the first Admiralty Survey of Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay in 1814-1816. Surveys of Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Superior were done in 1817-1825. A famous aviator was also associated with the town. Billy Bishop, famed WWI flying ace Read more…